Tuesday, 8 February 2011

MAJ. DICK WINTERS: THE INDEPENDENT OBITUARY

My obit of Maj. Dick Winters, the central figure in Band of Brothers, is in today's Indy; you can link to it here. My criticism of the TV mini-series was that it seemed to emphasize the idea that the soldiers were fighting for their buddies, for each other, to the exclusion of any other motivation--the idea I think being that when men are actually at war that's what it boils down to. I'm not sure that was totally fair to that generation and their motivations. But in any case, the film did a wonderful job of showing the basic decency of men like Winters being stretched beyond limits, and in his case in particular, the way he rose to that challenge with simple unassuming dignity. Damian Lewis did a brilliant job of catching just those qualities. The series resonated with me in the special sense of admiration for my father's generation, one against which I in many ways rebelled, but one whose ultimate resilience, dedication, and deceny I still admire.